Kanz Al Jeel Award was launched by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) to honour Nabati poetry pieces, folklore studies, and research by scholars and creators whose works represent the heritage of Nabati poetry and its inherent values.
The Award draws its name from one of the late Sheikh Zayed’s renowned works underlining his great legacy in the world of poetry and creativity. The Award also aims to promote creativity and critical thinking in order to create a poetic, critical, and artistic movement that will make Sheikh Zayed’s creative experience a focal point for new forms of creativity.
The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the UAE’s Founding Father, was a great leader who united a nation, shaped the UAE identity, and built a society that believes in tolerance and has accomplished major transformations. Sheikh Zayed laid the foundations for a unique ecosystem for poetry that reflects the depth of his relationship with Arabic and Nabati poetic heritage on one hand, and his ability to shape his unique aesthetic perspective on another.
The Award embraces Sheikh Zayed’s poetic journey and serves as a catalyst for novel artworks that celebrates its aesthetic value and ingenuity, once again highlighting the greater values of truthfulness, goodness, and beauty.
The total prize pool amounts to AED 1.5 million, with each category being AED 200 thousand and AED 500 thousand for the Creative Personality category.
The Kanz Al Jeel Award features six different categories, including:
The Poetry Matching Award is granted to the poem that most closely matches one of Sheikh Zayed’s poems in meter, rhyme, and subject. The poem should have an equal number of lines and imitate the language, figures of speech, and rhythm of the original poem.
The Poetic Publications Award recognises Nabati poetry books that are authentic in both form and content and constitute a notable addition to this poetic field.
The Arts Award celebrates works of art that use visual tools to read, perform, and embody Sheikh Zayed’s poetry and Nabati poetry in general. These include Arabic calligraphy, plastic art, short films, or singing, which engages vocal talents and musical instruments in particular, and Arabic poetry at large.
The Studies and Research Award is granted to research studies published on Nabati poetry that address this poetry’s methods, content, and lexicon in a scientific manner.
The Translation Award is granted to works and studies translated from Arabic, and to collection of poems translated from Arabic to other languages, whether printed or handwritten.
(Copyrights of handwritten works go to the Award).
The Creative Personality Award celebrates the winning work that made outstanding and effective creative contributions to Nabati poetry and affiliated studies, as well as to music, singing, drawing, and Arabic calligraphy.
